wordsout by
The
sailing of the ark < 5
of 45 >
5
At thirty-five
thousand feet,
wearied of business, I glanced out to see
the
winter sun throw into sharp relief
a barren land of mountains, a fine show
of
geology's inhumanity to man.
A drift of cloud had settled on Geneva
like
a
duvet on a bed—what light or warmth
has the tiny match-flame of our creativity
against
all this? Of course he made it,
just as he made the cold terrain of the psyche
or
soul, or spirit, call it what you will,
with its unclimbed ridges and deeper valleys,
and
some always in shadow, however high
the sun of righteousness rises on healing wings.
Written
on
a plane journey from
Nice to London,
looking down at the Alps in the west of Switzerland.
Sonnet 5 is preparation for the review in sonnets 6 to 11 of the
mismatch between our experience of the world and the soul (“the cold
terrain of
the psyche, or soul, or spirit”) and the hopes and expectations of
evangelical
belief.
sun of righteousness rises on healing wings cf Malachi 4:2.
.